Leave door barred
Sun Times editorial Sunday, April 4, 1999

Información enviada al Director de Tlahui. Puerto Rico a 5 de Abril, 1999. Politicians seeking a presidential pardon for 15 imprisoned Puerto Rican members of a terrorist group have characterized their crimes as similar to those of thieves and rabble-rousers. But in reality, the prisoners were members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, a terrorist group known as FALN. Their activities included 28 bombings in the Chicago area, and 11 FALN members, arrested in Evanston, received sentences ranging from 30 years to life.

The fight for Puerto Rico's independence has shifted dramatically since members of the underground terrorist group were put behind bars. Polítically, the battle has shifted from violence to the ballot box. Even so, there has been no clear mandate from Puerto Ricans for independence. Still, with peace comes a favorable climate in which the issue of pardons can be raised by politicians of Puerto Rican descent. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), one of the signers of a letter asking President Clinton to pardon the prisoners, said the request should not be taken as support for violent acts or as an attempt to expunge the records of terrorists.

How, then, should it be taken? Terrorist activity related to Puerto Rico's independence may be a thing of the past, but the threat from international and domestic terrorism remains very real. This is not the time to pardon those who used violence in an attempt to accomplish a political goal. In the case of FALN members, the punishment fits the crime.

To the Editor of the Chicago Sun Times:

Not surprisingly, given the Sun Times' negative editorial policy toward the Puerto Rican community, you printed an editorial opposing the release of fifteen Puerto Rican political prisoners serving the equivalent of life sentences for their commitment to the independence of Puerto Rico. Also not surprisingly, the Sun Times neglected to mention that the date of their editorial marked the 19th year most of these women and men have been in prison, that, according to Department of Justice statistics, they are serving disproportionately long sentences compared to sentences meted out for any and all other offenses, and that the amount of time they have already served is disproportionately long. What this amounts to is punishment for their beliefs and associations.

It is also not surprising that you neglected to tell your readers that the campaign for their release from prison enjoys wide support, not just from many U.S. congressional representatives, but from virtually every religious denomination in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, from Nobel Prize winners, and from the leadership of the entire Puerto Rican political spectrum. Luis Ferré, founder and patriarch of the pro-statehood party, announced his support for their release, saying it would assist the process of resolving the U.S. colonial relationship with Puerto Rico; Sila Calderón, mayor of San Juan and an ardent commonwealth supporter, added her voice to the growing support, stating that while she supported neither their goals nor their means, she welcomed their release "as a humanitarian act to advance the cause of peace and reconciliation among the Puerto Rican people;" and Reverend Jorge Raschke, the conservative, pro-statehood Protestant religious leader, likewise added his voice to the support for their release, reflecting on the values of love and pardon during Holy Week, "I believe that some of these prisoners have been subjected to cruel and unusual punishments, disproportionate and in excess of their crime, while in the United States worse criminals walk free in the streets."

Your readers deserve more than the polítically punitive position you took.

From: National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners prpowpp@aol.com
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